Hospitalist Per Diem Setup

[buildhealth]

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I was reading about a hospitalist who works part-time at one hospital (1 week per month) & picks up remaining shifts per-diem as needed from surrounding hospitals by contracting with them directly. Is this an easy / realistic set-up to create assuming you are living in/near a medium to large sized city?

It seems like such a schedule gives a significant amount of flexibility & addresses some of the challenges of 7 on / 7 off (ex: take off 3 weeks one month if you'd like, not work as many weekends, etc) without the cons of traditional locums (traveling far from family, etc).

 

[tantacles]

I was reading about a hospitalist who works part-time at one hospital (1 week per month) & picks up remaining shifts per-diem as needed from surrounding hospitals by contracting with them directly. Is this an easy / realistic set-up to create assuming you are living in/near a medium to large sized city?

It seems like such a schedule gives a significant amount of flexibility & addresses some of the challenges of 7 on / 7 off (ex: take off 3 weeks one month if you'd like, not work as many weekends, etc) without the cons of traditional locums (traveling far from family, etc).

Hah, you read that guy's post on reddit, huh?

 

[chessknt]

I imagine it is doable but would always be vulnerable to one of your other hospitals finding a permanent physician and no longer needing you since it is hard to work around someone with a variable availability. Unless your PT job gave you full health/401k benefits you would need to buy health insurance and set up an LLC so you could divert some of your income pre-tax to retirement. A plus would be some insulation from hospital politics and BS.

Seems like a lot of effort to just 'have the option' to take 3 weeks off randomly.

 

[shiftingmirage]

I would worry whether the contract with the part time hospital would have restrictions about moonlighting in the area. Some will have a geographic restriction like you cannot work within 30 miles of the hospital. Some places will also take a piece of the cut and sometimes that piece is high to the point where it's not worth picking up the shift.